wfn.org | Caring Ministries 2000 - Tuesday, June 1

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Caring Ministries 2000
Tuesday, June 1

(This conference for all caregivers, sponsored by Association of
Brethren Caregivers, is being held June 1-4 at Elizabethtown (Pa.)
College. 

1) Elizabethtown College Host For Second 
     Caring Ministries Conference

Elizabethtown College, founded in 1899, is this week's host for the
second Caring Ministries 2000 Conference coordinated by the
Association of Brethren Caregivers of the Church of the Brethren. 
The first such conference was held in August 1997 on the campus of
another Brethren college, Manchester, in Indiana.

Elizabethtown is one of the largest of the six Church of the
Brethren colleges and universities, serving some 1,500 resident and
day students per year.  The original charter of the college was
filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster Co., Pa., on August
24, 1899.  I.N.H. Beahm was the first president.  Other presidents
throughout the first century have included Henry K. Ober, Ralph W.
Schlosser, A. C. Baugher, and Morley J. Mays.  The college is
located on an 110-acre campus and it has a close association with
the town of Elizabethtown.

2) Tonight's Worship Service Speaker Envisions Church's Caring Role
     
The Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell, who will address this week's Caring
Ministries Conference in its opening session, has been a visionary
for the church’s role in how society can care for the disadvantaged
and needy, as well as an activist in community development.  As
Deputy General Secretary for National Ministries for the National
Council of Churches in Christ (NCCC), Dr. Powell is in a position
to help member churches as well as government and social agencies
develop faith-based initiatives to address needs created by welfare
reform and other humanitarian programs.

Dr. Powell holds both a divinity degree and a law degree and he is
a member and pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 

3) Tomorrow's Schedule Heats Up With Start Of Many Workshops

The heart of this week's Caring Ministries Conference is the
workshop offerings each afternoon.  Registrants have 67 sessions
from which to choose six they will attend during the next three
days.
     
Conference attendees will need to keep both the pre-registration
brochure, which is blue, and the yellow conference brochure handy
as they plan their conference participation.  The blue brochure
contains the descriptions of the workshops, as well as biographical
data on the leaders and speakers for this week.  The yellow
brochure lists the  locations of the workshops and all other
meetings of the conference.  There also is a floor plan of Nicarry
Hall in the yellow brochure.  Most of the workshops will be held in
Nicarry.

4) Tonight Heritage Singers To Initiate Late Evening 
     Praise/Prayer Meetings

Following each evening’s worship service this week, there will be
an opportunity for conferencegoers to attend presentations of
several unique forms of worship expression.  This evening’s
offering, at 9 p.m. in the Young Center of the Bucher Meeting
House, will feature a music program by the Heritage Singers, an
octet composed primarily of members of the Lancaster and Chiques
Churches of the Brethren.  

As the Singers trace the development of Brethren music from the
1700s to the present, they will sing their first numbers in German
and will wear the traditional plain garb.  As the narrated program
moves toward contemporary hymn arrangements and anthems, it also
will include several gospel-style hymns.   Robert M. Hess,
Lancaster, Pa., and Doris Faus, Manheim, Pa., are the group’s
leaders.  

5) If You Experience Difficulty
    Or Need A Lift This Week...

The conference is not providing medical care this week via a
special first aid room or a medical specialist on duty, but
emergency care is readily available from Elizabethtown College's
campus security.  If you, or someone you are with, is in immediate
need for assistance, look for a campus phone and dial 0, if it is
semi-urgent, or 1111 if it is an urgent emergency.  Or, you can
look for someone wearing a red vest.  These are conference
volunteers who are our pathfinders for the week - the people with
answers to your questions or those who can give you directions on
how to get from meeting to meeting.

For any conferencegoers with physical difficuly, there is a service
available if you need transportation to any of the meetings between
campus buildings.  To request a ride, call the conference office,
campus ext. 1997, to make arrangements to be picked up.  Please
call in advance of the time you need to be transported.  The
shuttle service is being coordinated by Jobie Riley, and it will be
available 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

6) Parking Permits Required This Week...
    And Stay Within The WHITE Lines!
     
Parking in and around the campus this week is free, but it requires
a temporary permit.  Even those who come for the day must display
a parking permit.  The permits can be obtained from the conference
office, located in the M & M Mars Room of Leffler Chapel.  Also,
the college points out that any parking spaces marked by yellow
lines are for college faculty and staff only.  Please park your car
in the white spaces or in the parking lot off College Ave. across
from the Leffler Chapel (see No. 3 on the map on the back of the
yellow conference brochure).

7) Help Is Available To Get Your Group Together Sometime This Week
     
In the registration packet is a form to request a networking
meeting with people of similar interests, professions, et cetera. 
Networking coordinator Donna Lerew will respond to such requests as
quickly as they are received and provide meeting space and
conveners, if needed.

There is a box for completed requests at the conference office, M
& M Mars Room, Leffler.

8) Bridgewater President To Address Conference Tomorrow Morning
     
Dr. Philip C. Stone, president of Bridgewater (Va.) College, will
be tomorrow morning’s plenary session speaker.  Since Dr. Stone
became president in 1994, he has introduced a unique academic
program through which students journal their learnings and personal
development.  He will share with the conference his insights into
how persons acknowledge and develop their full potential.

9) Noted Radio Personality To Lead Morning Bible Studies In Luke
     
Barbara Lundblad, known for her messages as a speaker on The
Protestant Hour radio program, will lead the conference Bible
studies this week.  The Bible study will begin the conference
sessions at 9 a.m. each day, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.  The
texts will be from Luke 8, Luke 13, and Luke 16 respectively.

10) F4 Workshop Has Been Canceled

The workshop scheduled for Friday entitled, “Foster Parenting: Providing 
a Nurturing Environment,” will not be held.  Originally, the workshop leader 
was to be Ann Earhart Gibble, and a replacement following her untimely 
death late last month, was not possible.  

11) Four Support Groups Meet Tomorrow
     
There are two time slots for support groups to meet at this week's
conference.  Tomorrow at lunchtime (11:45-12:45), "Families and
Friends of Gays and Lesbians," and "Mental Health" groups will
meet.  Tomorrow evening, 9-10 p.m., "Cancer" and "Gays and
Lesbians" will meet.  Meeting places are in Nicarry Hall.
     

12) Nurses To Meet Tonight
     
Members of the Brethren Nurses Association will meet tonight, 9
p.m., in Nicarry 103. 

13) Want To SEE What's Going On?
     
Conference photographs and news stories by General Board's Manager
of News Services, Nevin Dulabaum, for www.brethren.org/abc/ daily
coverage are being posted in the Caring Ministries 2000 conference
office and bookstore. They also will be included in a future
Messenger.

(The daily news sheet is produced by Fred Swartz, pastor of
Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren. It is being sent over 
the Newsline mailing list by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the 
General Board's News Services. Daily Web coverage is available at 
www.brethren.org/abc/special_events/cm2kconf.)